Need help with speeding ticket

I need advice or help finding counsel. I hope this is the correct place to put this post.

I was traveling home from South Caroline last Saturday night and was pulled over on I95 out side of Kingsland. It seems the officer had pegged another car on radar that was coming up on my rear very fast. When the car realized it was a police car, he jumped in the middle lane leaving me in the fast lane. The officer pulled both of us over. The officer came up and asked if I was traveling with the other car since we both had Florida tags. I said, honestly, no. To make a long story short, he gave me a ticket for 89/70. Here's my problem..He said he got me on radar, my radar detector never went off. I also had my cruise set on 80 (yes, I know that is speeding and would have gladly accepted a ticket for 80/70). As you guys might know, 89 is a super speeder ticket and is very expensive and has more points. I also have an app on my car that gives me an alarm if i go over 85. There was no alarm. My wife and son were in the car, and witnessed the speed and no alarm or radar.

Any know of a good lawyer, as I can't just sit back and pay a ticket for something I wasn't doing.

Clubrcr said:

I need advice or help finding counsel. I hope this is the correct place to put this post.

I was traveling home from South Caroline last Saturday night and was pulled over on I95 out side of Kingsland. It seems the officer had pegged another car on radar that was coming up on my rear very fast. When the car realized it was a police car, he jumped in the middle lane leaving me in the fast lane. The officer pulled both of us over. The officer came up and asked if I was traveling with the other car since we both had Florida tags. I said, honestly, no. To make a long story short, he gave me a ticket for 89/70. Here's my problem..He said he got me on radar, my radar detector never went off. I also had my cruise set on 80 (yes, I know that is speeding and would have gladly accepted a ticket for 80/70). As you guys might know, 89 is a super speeder ticket and is very expensive and has more points. I also have an app on my car that gives me an alarm if i go over 85. There was no alarm. My wife and son were in the car, and witnessed the speed and no alarm or radar.

Any know of a good lawyer, as I can't just sit back and pay a ticket for something I wasn't doing.

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Pay the ticket and slow down,,,, no way your ever gonna win this,,,,

Cmp1 said:

Pay the ticket and slow down,,,, no way your ever gonna win this,,,,

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I understand what you are saying, but....I do know through my research, hiring an attorney might get the speed reduced and the expense ( what I would pay) would be about the same, i.e. courts costs attorney fees etc. Just at that, I would not have to worry about the extra points (which I did not earn) and the insurance premiums that will go up a lot higher at a 89 speed vs. 80.

I don't think admitting you have an app that alerts you when you are driving 85 mph will help you in any judges court.
Driving 80 (or 89) with your kid in the car wont go to well with the judge either.

I agree with CMP 1, pay the ticket and learn from it.

Thanks for the input and your opinion, I guess I was hoping there was someone that actually had gone through this and used an attorney, or there was an attorney that might chime in and let me know what my legal right would be.

At the the end of the day, I will go to court and plead my case, most likely with an attorney that knows how to deal with this type of case.

I guess I'm just saying,,,, do the speed limit and you don't have to worry about anything,,,, what are you gonna save anyway,,,, a few minutes,,,, what's the point,,,, is it worth the hassle?

I guess I need to be clear, I wouldn't be foolish enough to use a radar detector as a defense, or anything like that. I'm not looking for sympathy. I was caught in a speed trap, the officers didn't have me speeding at my correct rate of speed. They had someone else. If that is the way south Georgia gets their revenue, so be it. But if they would have given me a ticket for speeding at my speed, I wouldn't be complaining or looking for help.

As far as the hassle, a ticket for 10 over is quite different than a "super speeder" ticket for 19 over. Check the law. The different in the fine, the insurance and your points against the license is worth the hassle.

What if you were going the speed limit and the officer stopped you and gave you a ticket. Would it be worth the hassle? By the way, I don't speed often, This is the first ticket I have received in over 25 years. At this point, it is the principal.

Clubrcr said:

I guess I need to be clear, I wouldn't be foolish enough to use a radar detector as a defense, or anything like that. I'm not looking for sympathy. I was caught in a speed trap, the officers didn't have me speeding at my correct rate of speed. They had someone else. If that is the way south Georgia gets their revenue, so be it. But if they would have given me a ticket for speeding at my speed, I wouldn't be complaining or looking for help.

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LOL LOL LOL,,,, I said the same thing about 30 years ago,,,, just follow what the rules are, and you won't need a lawyer,,,, easy,,,, been there, done that,,,,

Clubrcr said:

As far as the hassle, a ticket for 10 over is quite different than a "super speeder" ticket for 19 over. Check the law. The different in the fine, the insurance and your points against the license is worth the hassle.

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You didn't say who wrote the ticket but unless it was the State Patrol they can't write a radar ticket for 10 mph over except under certain conditions like school or construction zones, historic districts, etc, due to Georgia's speed trap law. GSP can write a radar ticket for 1 mph over if they want.

A lawyer may be able to talk the prosecutor into lowering the speed down to avoid going to trial, I'd at least talk to one before I took the points and SS fine.

Backlasher82 said:

You didn't say who wrote the ticket but unless it was the State Patrol they can't write a radar ticket for 10 mph over except under certain conditions like school or construction zones, historic districts, etc, due to Georgia's speed trap law. GSP can write a radar ticket for 1 mph over if they want.

A lawyer may be able to talk the prosecutor into lowering the speed down to avoid going to trial, I'd at least talk to one before I took the points and SS fine.

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It was the local county sheriff deputy.

Clubrcr said:

It was the local county sheriff deputy.

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You can Google "Georgia speed trap law" and read the particulars but I recommend finding a lawyer in the county that issued the ticket and seeing if he can help you out.

Something similar happened to me one time. Didn't do any good talking to the policeman. Went to my court date and explained to the judge my side of the story. He didn't dismiss my fine but did reduce it by half. Might be worth a try.

Clubrcr,

I hope that you read this but I know that it is long so I don't care if other people read it or not but this information will not fit in a p/m to you.

Fight it, Fight it , Fight it !!!!!

This is a long read but I hope that you read it all and check the links provided.

I also wonder just what speed that he charged the other vehicle with too.

Just remember that this information could possibly save you a lot of money and also the fact that the super-speeder penalty can also show up as a "reckless driving offense" with the additional $200 fine tacked on top of everything else. It can even show up on a "back-ground" check later when you apply for a job too.

Go back up to Camden County and do your best to ask to plead your case with the judge so that he/she can understand your side of your story just as it happened. I would definitely advise the judge that you do have an alarm on your vehicle that alarms if it reaches the 85 mph level and it surely never alerted anything. HECK, I HAVE ACTUALLY DRIVEN ON TEXAS ROADS THAT THE SPEED LIMIT IS 85 MPH AND ALSO MANY 2-LANE "RURAL ROADS" AS WE KNOW THEM ARE 70 MPH. Tell them that there are some roads that you may travel that have speed limits that are in fact 85 MPH and that is when the alarm system app comes in handy. (You don't have tell them that you have never driven on them as you are not lying to them by saying the above). The other factor is that your actual radar detector might not have gone off because they may have been using laser instead of traditional radar and some detectors will not pick that up. In the case of laser, they can fixate it on a small surface such as the front bumper of a vehicle and be able to pick out each individual car in question.

I read the following information a few minutes ago and it sounds to me that it would be in your best interest to be present for your case as such and dispute the mph results as it could possible save your a ton of money in the process.

Check this link for more information about the law etc.



http://www.drivinglaws.org/resource...icket/fighting-a-georgia-super-speeder-ticket


This link below has some not so happy motorists but read the information and make up your own mind.

I also read something a little bit ago about a lady from Florida that it cost over $1000 in fines as she was caught as a super-speeder etc. She had never heard of this Georgia law in effect as such.


http://investigations.blog.ajc.com/...ters-leaving-big-super-speeder-tab-in-georgia

Make sure to scroll on down and read some of the comments too.


I think that if you show up for court, you might get the fine reduced by doing so and could save you additional fines etc especially since it is relatively close to your location in Jacksonville. I say fight it as best you can and don't just give them FREE extra money upfront without being able to tell your side of this event.

Years ago, my family including my mother-in-law was coming home from vacation in Florida and about 3 miles before the I-395 bypass loop around Jacksonville, there was a bright sign in the median FLASHING: WARNING POLICE RADAR AHEAD !!! We all laughed about it and as we get close to this area, I made sure that my cruise control was set at 54 mph since back then the area inside of the loop was only 55 mph around the loop and through Jacksonville. When we had just got inside of that area, there were police cars everywhere it seemed and they had chase cars down about 1/2 mile further. All of a sudden a white car came flying by us running about 75-80 mph and I said they will coming after him for sure. Well the blue lights came on and screamed toward us BUT they pulled me over instead. I had just told my family that the license plate on the Florida car that went flying by was " I B LEV "and those cops were going to make a believer out of him too. The officer pulled me over and advised that I was speeding and then he wanted to know where we were going and I told him we were coming home from vacation as we do this every year and I also told him that he obviously had pulled the wrong car because the other car was white and had a cellphone antenna on it and NOT a K-40 CB antenna such as mine and the license plate on it was " I B LEV". My wife and mother-in-law both told him that we had just joked about that yes he was going to be a believer when you guys caught him too. I also told him that I had set my cruise control at 54 mph because I knew that the speed limit was only 55 mph inside of the loop. I even told him that for the very first time in my life, WE SAW A FLASHING SIGN IN THE MEDIAN ABOUT 3 MILES FURTHER SOUTH THAT SAID.... WARNING: POLICE RADAR AHEAD as we had never seen such.

This was one of the chase officers that stopped us. He did run that Florida tag number and saw that it was in fact registered to someone in Jacksonville. I then asked him if he would have the other officer that supposedly clocked us come to our location because I wasn't about to pay any ticket that was for someone else. In a few minutes, the other officer arrived and then quickly verified that the other car did not have that kind of CB antenna on it and that he knew that were telling the truth and apologized for the inconvenience and told us to have a safe trip.

Two months later, my brother who lived in Florida, got a speeding ticket on the I-395 by-pass loop heading to Georgia for our uncle's funeral and dang if he didn't get another ticket when he went back home on I-395 loop !!! Back then, they didn't play around about their 55 mph speed limit on the loop.

Super speeder is 25 over on the highway, so that won't be an issue. Go to court, speak to a solicitor and see what happens. If you have a clean record, you might get mercy. The only speeding ticket I ever got was 15 over on the highway, and the solicitor let me off with $50 court fees, dismissed the ticket and thought it was silly that a cop bothered to pull someone over in the fast lane on 75 for doing 80 mph. I came at him with humility, admitted i was speeding, apologized, and just straight asked for mercy. Probably helped that i was in a shirt and tie as well.

Thank you Eagle Eye 444.

The weird thing about this was, the other car that sped up behind was issued a ticket for 88/70 and was let go very quickly. I was issue a 89/70, really? Also they kept me on the side of the road for about 30 minutes, and even called in another cruiser. I believe they did this because of the automobile I was driving.

ryanh487 said:

Super speeder is 25 over on the highway, so that won't be an issue.

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The Super Speeder Law in Georgia

The new Georgia law defines a "super speeder" as a driver who has been convicted of driving 75mph or more on a two lane road or 85mph or more on any road. When you pay a traffic fine, you are admitting guilt and have been convicted.

Just a few thoughts. I don't what you drive but if you have changed tire sizes at that speed could throw your speedometer off quite a bit. I went up one size on one of my pickups and it's 5mph slow at 70. Maybe your radar detector is faulty. Maybe your over 85 app is no good. You certainly have a lot of speeding devices for someone who rarely speeds. maybe if you would have told him you had a radar detector and a app alarm for over 85mph he would have understood your complaint and let you go. Seriously

Telling someone else not to speed because you don't is like telling someone else not to sin because you don't. I'm not saying that we are all super speeders or that we should speed even one mile over the speed limit.
That being said I would say most of us are or have been guilty of speeding. My Dad who rarely speeds got a ticket because he didn't apply his brake going down hill. In some cities the speed limit goes from 55 to 25 in no time. Sometimes we speed up to go around someone.

I can see the OP's point. I have this conception that some of the counties along I-95 in Georgia are speed traps. Mainly McIntosh County. True though that if you ain't speeding, you won't get a ticket.
I think the OP should at least drive back up to Georgia and go to court.

The court will listen to you. But you need facts. Have your speedometer checked. Bring your witnesses to court. The app or radar detector stuff is only valid if you have proof it worked as implied.
The officer will have to present a prima facia case to the court. He will be required to explain the violation in reasonable detail including how he identified you and your vehicles speed. His equipment that the speed measurement was made with will have records of certification that he must present to the court.
Speeding tickets are not haphazard flukes. The court will listen to both of you and will make a reasonable decision. It happens daily.

Call a lawyer in that county. Going rate for traffic lawyer is around $450 for that sort of ticket. Most will say they can almost certainly get the super speeder to go away, and can probably get that down to a no point offense (this assuming a fairly clean record otherwise).

Wife got hit for 89 in a 70 in Tift county last year. $450 for the lawyer, plus the fine. Made the super speeder go away (no $200 add on), and no points. We didn't have to go to court, took a total of two phone calls to the lawyer.